Korean Zombie Due $20,000 to Show and $20,000 to Win Against Jose Aldo; Aiming Much Higher

UFC fighter pay has been a hot topic recently with some people saying fighters aren’t paid enough, while other say that the company’s compensation strategy is fair.

The talk got so heated at one point that UFC president Dana White said he considered doing away with traditional Fight of the Night and discretionary locker room bonuses. He recently confirmed, however, that after talking with fighters the UFC would continue its current pay structure, including bonuses.

“We’re not doing away with the Fight of the Night bonuses,” White declared. “After I said (we might end the bonuses), we had a lot of feedback from fighters and fighters want the finish bonuses. They want the finish bonuses and fighters want the discretionary bonuses to stay the same.”

One fighter that is surely happy to hear that is Chan Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie. He is fighting UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo in the UFC 163 main event on Aug. 3 in Brazil. Considering his past propensity for winning post-fight bonuses – he’s won four bonuses in just three UFC bouts – and Aldo’s fighting style being just as engaging as his, there’s a good chance that Jung could be up for another post-fight bonus, which are currently being doled out at $50,000 each.

That could mean a lot to a fighter like Jung that hasn’t fought in 15 months and is due to make $20,000 to show and another $20,000 if he should defeat Aldo.

“I will be making 20,000 dollars to show, and another 20,000 dollars if I win. I do not get any PPV points,” Jung said in a recent interview with the Korean website cormma.com.

By comparison, Aldo made $120,000 to show and $120,000 to win in his recent fight with Frankie Edgar at UFC 156; a fight that he won.

It’s not that Jung is complaining about his pay, he was just answering an interviewer’s question.

Of course, he hopes for something even better than a post-fight bonus. He hopes to defeat Aldo and strengthen his bargaining position when his current contract comes due.

“After two more fights, I will be able to negotiate my contract,” said Jung. “Hopefully, I will be in a good position when that happens.”

UFC pays their fighters like “Station Casinos” pays their guests. The art of dangling that carrot.. then the house always wins

Classy

Stefano ‘Zwonimir’ Sega Nogaro

is it the lower wage for a title fighter in Zuffa era excluding BW, FLW and WBW?

Mike mckinney

Lets see how long it takes him to notice his contract extends if he wins the title…

KungFuPanda

So IF he wins he gets about 1/4 of one of Dana’s luxury cars? Sounds like a sweet deal! I hope this kid has an endorsement deal with a kimchee company or something back in Korea so that he can afford his medical bills when he’s done fighting. I know, I know…it’s not all the UFCs fault, nobody is forcing this kid to fight. I just hate that the UFC knows that they’re paying him peanuts to sacrifice his body.

Justin Ernst

I love how Dana acts like fighters almost just lost bonuses because people complain that fighters don’t make enough. People aren’t saying that the amount of money that is distributed to ufc fighters needs to be done differently. They are saying that more of Zuffa’s money should go to the fighters. Not…take it from them here to give to them there. Zuffa needs to allocate more money to the fighters period. And they would never get rid of fight of the night and knockout/sub of the night even if the fighters wanted to. It motivates fighters to be more aggressive and, as such, is good for business.

Justin Ernst

I’m guessing Moraga might be getting less than this when he fights for the “world championship” this weekend.

JDMMA

Jung “I do not get any PPV points,” because you dont sell PPVs !!!!

NoBodyToBlame

Are you insane? KZ is one of THE most exciting fighters in MMA and KZ vs Poirier was epic. I personally think part of that is small guys have more entertaining fights. Remember the UFC on Fox debut? Was like a 1 min knockout of Cain Velasquez, no action, major letdown. I am buying the PPV for the KZ vs Aldo fight and I bet a lot of others are, too.